There is nothing new to report. Obama is stymied as to what to do. The Russians have pretty much consolidated their hold on the Crimea. The Ukrainian government is still without any options other than suicide, or holding their breath to make the Soviets Russians leave their country alone.

The West has threatened monetary and trade sanctions against the Russians, and the Russians reply forcefully, “Don’t do that!”

We all know that Russia depends financially on energy exports in natural gas and oil. It would seem that we could interrupt that flow of exports, thereby interrupting the flow of funds to their treasury. Whatever sounds good is not always good.

First of all, if we cut the natural gas pipelines from Russia to Eastern Europe, we not only mess with the Russians, but we also mess with the natural gas supplies of the European nations. Secondly, the Russians might decide to do that themselves in an exercise of hegemonic muscle.

So, what should we do? I don’t know. I do know the reason we elect leaders is to handle difficult situations to the advantage of the United States and its allies. The best long-term solution is to get new leadership. The best short-term solution is to play whatever cards we have, but that requires some courage of which our current leadership has none.

Jim: I really appreciate you linking to the article by Henry Kissinger. His logic and common sense have been missing in USA foreign policy since the Nixon Administration. I believe he is correct. When has the ruling crowd in the Obama Administration made a sensible assessment of what our policies should be? Where is there a statement as to the fundamental principles of our policies?

Kissinger summarized it for me with his statement, “For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.”

Ukraine will still be there tomorrow. I do not believe Ukraine is Russia’s immediate goal, however. Maybe later, but for now they want to control its only warm-water port. It is hard to fault this position if you are wearing Russian nickers. Whether Russia controls Crimea will not affect the world’s current balance of power. I may be wrong, of course, but I keep thinking that while we are looking at Ukraine or Crimea, another Detroit is getting ready to happen here at home.

Maybe we wouldn’t even be discussing Ukraine if we Americans had elected politicians who were first and foremost, statesmen. Just a thought.

Yep, Mustang. It all revolves around leadership. Crap happens all the time, both domestically and internationally. How our leadership addresses these problems determines our long term success, or lack of.

I appreciate your observation that the Ukraine will be there tomorrow. Well, so will the Crimean peninsula. Our leaders should have had contingency plans for that area, whether we would have supported the Ukrainians or not. After all, the Crimeans apparently support Russia’s presence.

It’s late to do much now about the Ukraine, especially since Obummer handed over his foreign policy power to Putin himself. Maybe if our White House inhabitants stop taking vacations and get smarts, we’d have a CHANCE at getting something put together.

Putin is holding almost all the cards. I can’t stand Obama, but I think that there really is nothing that he can do. In fact, Obama did some things that likely emboldened Putin. Please see The Wages of Weakness, a recent essay by Charles Krauthammer.

Remember when Russia cut off oil to the Ukrainians about 10 years ago? They were dying in the freezing cold. A dear friend is Ukrainian, she’s about 34 now and left when she was 11. It’s hard for her to see what’s going on, that’s for sure.
And she’s even more dismayed to see the creeping socialism in America…we spoke yesterday and nearly broke my heart to hear this young woman expecting her second child any day, say “I came here for freedom, what’s happening?” Needless to say, she and her med student husband are conservatives. Everyone I’ve personally met from Eastern Europe and other socialist places (even Canadian immigrants) are conservative. They know better than our unthinking American leftists…intent on their ENTITLEMENTS (a word which MUST be changed, by the way)

Yes. Maybe we can change the word to , freebies, or government controlled assistance. It is interesting to hear about your friend from Ukraine. The scary thing is that the Crimean people seem to favor the Russians, and not the Ukrainian government. I really don’t know what should be done, but I know for sure that Putin’s involvement means no good will come of it. What will Obama do? Nothing.